With average life expectancy in the mid 80s already (do you know yours?), the world is becoming a different and much older place. Pretty much anyone under 40 can literally
decide to live to be 100. 120 isn't out of the question.

Surprisingly small factors accumulate to shift the economic landscape. Quality of life, long sneezed at by businesses, appears to have long term impact
on the viability of a company or region. There's a reason that there are profound labor shortages today in Fargo, ND and West Kansas.

The combination of aging and the rapid brain drain
(assaulting cities like Cleveland and St. Louis in favor of Seattle and San Francisco) portends a funny new world. Imagine ghettos full of elderly creative types bunched up in coastal/supportive cities producing the ideas that are implemented by industrial regions populated, by and large by under-educated
ethnic immigrants.

There are a couple of interesting new studies released by the old news media. The New York Times Job Market conducted a small telephone survey to discover reasons that workers might stay in the workforce past retirement:

Motivating Factors to Remain in Workforce During Retirement Years

Enjoy working

69%

Find meaning in my work

66%

Not financially prepared to retire

50%

Will miss social contact of going to work

47%

Prefer extra income

40%

Along the same lines, CareerBuilder has developed a larger survey of worker attitude. (The full report is available in PDF format.
Email Jennifer Sullivan for more details.) Tactical in its orientation, the report gives a complex view of attitudes around the country in areas like job satisfaction, career goals and so
on.

We're at a fascinating juncture. Tactics that make sense from a short term recruiting perspective are starting to be at odds with long term strategy.